Drinks
by jemb
Summary: ONE SHOT Booth finds Brennan in a bar drowing her sorrows after a tough case. BB friendship with hints at more.


_**For those who have been reading "If Your World Falls Apart I'll Be There" and "Relationships and Road Trips", I'm working on a third instalment since I've had such good reviews. But it might take a while so in the mean time I'll be submitting some one shots separate to those stories. These are just some ideas that came to mind and didn't fit into any of my chaptered stories. Thanks**_

DRINKS

Brennan sits alone on a stool in the darkened bar, a straight scotch sitting in front of her. It's been an awful week. She never expected a case to affect her this much and the fact that it does disturbs her. It isn't the first time she's handled the bones of a baby but somehow meeting the parents and family of the child and finding out the truth made it too real. It took every bit of her strength not to cry when she spoke to the parents. She could see Booth was affected by it too but he seems to cope better with things like this. He's probably seen a lot more of it than her. She lifts up the glass, knocks back the scotch and places the glass back on the table. The bartender refills it at her signal. As she lifts the glass again to take a sip, she feels someone standing behind her. _Booth is here_. She's beginning to sense when he's around.

"Hey Bones." He greets her as he sits down on the stool beside her.

"Booth." She returns before she knocks the drink back.

"I didn't think I'd see you here." He comments. She just shrugs and signals for a refill. The barman obliges but with a wary eye.

"Scotch huh?" Booth asks. "I'll just have a beer." He orders. "So, you okay?" he asks. _Who would be after this week?_

"Fine." She replies.

"You know it's alright to be upset." He says. _I am_.

"I'm not upset." She blatantly denies her feelings. _I'm falling apart here_.

"I'm just saying, it was a tough case, anyone would be upset by it." He takes a gulp of his beer.

"I'm not upset." She repeats before drinking the scotch.

"So you often drink scotch on your own in a bar then?" Booth asks. Brennan whips her head around and glares at him.

"It's none of your business what I do in my spare time." She snaps.

"Fine, as long as you're not planning on driving home." He says shaking his head. Brennan realises she has had more than enough scotch to put her over the limit. She shrugs and orders another drink.

"I can give you one more but then I'm going to have to cut you off." The barman says as he pours the drink. _I'm glad someone she knows is here. _

"Fine." Brennan knocks the drink back, digs in her pocket and slaps a bill on the table. "I'll see you Booth." She stands up and walks to the door, feeling a little unsteady. Booth sighs, takes a long gulp of his beer and pays for it, then follows her. He catches up to Brennan as she reaches her car.

"Hey Bones." He jogs over. "You shouldn't be driving." He tells her.

"I'm not. I'm getting my bag then I'm getting a cab." She tells him.

"Come on, I'll drive you." He offers.

"I don't need you to take care of me." She says defiantly._ I've always been able to take care of myself. I've always had to because no one else is around._ She reaches into the back of the car and pulls out her bag. As she turns she loses her balance but Booth grabs her before she can fall. His hands remain around her waist, keeping her on her feet.

"I'm not taking care of you. I'm just giving you a ride home." He says. He can see that the scotch is catching up to her. "How much have you had to drink anyway?" he asks. Brennan shrugs.

"Come on, my car is right over there." He takes her arm and leads her towards his car.

"Fine." She resigns to the lift and follows him.

Outside her house, Booth pulls the car slowly to a halt. Brennan is looking a bit worse for wear. Her head is resting against the window and her eyes flutter open and shut. She takes off her seatbelt and stumbles out of the car. Booth gets out his side and walks with her up the drive. His arm hovers across her back, not touching her but ready just in case she stumbles.

"You got your keys?" he asks. Brennan nods and digs around in her bag producing a small key ring with a bunch of keys attached. She passes them to Booth. When they get to the top of the path Brennan leans against the panel beside the door and as Booth attempts to open the lock she slides to the ground, her knees up at her chest.

"My life sucks." She mumbles.

"What? Booth asks.

"My life, it is such a mess." Brennan explains. "All I do is work." Booth listens to her drunken ramblings as he tries to find the right key for the door.

"Bones, you'll feel a whole lot better tomorrow." He tells her as he finally locates the right key. He pushes it open and turns to Brennan, crouching down beside her.

"Come on, door's open." He says. He takes her elbows and lifts her back to her feet. She stumbles as she walks inside but Booth keeps her on her feet.

"I can't even get into my own house." She whimpers. Booth smiles and helps her inside.

He's never been inside her house. _It's nice_ he thinks. She drops her bag on the couch and falls into the chair.

"Booth, why does everyone like you?" she asks. Her head rolls back and rests on the back of the chair.

"Oh, it could be my charm or my devastating good looks." He smiles as he walks to her kitchen.

"Why don't people like me?" she asks.

"The squints like you. I like you." Booth tells her as he pours a glass of water. He walks over to her and crouches by the chair. "Here, drink this." He passes the glass to her. She takes a few sips and rests it on her leg.

"You don't really like me. You just put up with me because I help with your cases." She sounds like she's going to cry.

"Drink up." Booth encourages. "And I do really like you." He tells her. _More than you know_. "You're an interesting woman Bones." He says. "But this isn't the time for philosophical discussion. Why don't you go get changed and I'll go make you something to cure the hangover you're going to have tomorrow. Brennan passes Booth the water and struggles to her feet. She then heads for the bedroom.

Booth stands in the kitchen collecting the ingredients he needs. Having not heard anything from Brennan for ten minutes or so Booth is a little concerned so he walks through to her bedroom. He knocks on the partially opened door and when she doesn't reply he pushes it all the way open. He finds Brennan passed out on the bed, face down._ Oh Bones_. He pulls her boots off and gently rolls her over. Grabbing the blanket folded at the bottom of the bed he drapes it over her incase she gets cold. He doesn't actually know whether to be concerned or to laugh at this situation. Booth sits down on the bed and strokes the hair out of her face.

"Bones, Bones, Bones. What is going on in there." He sighs. Pulling out his cell he calls her best friend and colleague Angela.

"Hey, it's Booth."

"Mmm, hi there." Angela replies. "To what do I owe this late night call?" she playfully flirts.

"I'm sorry, I know it's late but I need a favour." He says.

Angela hurries over to Brennan's house. She opens the front door and walks in, finding Booth in the kitchen cleaning up the blender. His jacket is draped over the back of the couch and his tie has been loosed along with the top button of his shirt.

"Where is she?" she asks.

"Passed out on the bed." He tells her.

"I can't believe she was drinking like that." Angela sighs. "I know she was upset by the case but…"

"Hey, we all deal with things differently." Booth shrugs. "Anyway, thanks for coming over. I don't think she'd be happy seeing my face first thing in the morning." He smiles. "I made the perfect hangover cure, it's in the fridge." He walks to the couch to pick up his jacket then heads for the door. "Make sure she drinks it. I guarantee it will help."

"Hey Booth." Angela calls as he opens the door to leave. "Thanks for looking after her."

"Anytime Angela." He shrugs as he heads out to go home.

Brennan wakes up with a thumping headache. She knows she's in her bed but she doesn't really remember getting here. And there's someone sitting in the chair in the corner. She blinks a few times to clear her fuzzy vision and recognises that person as Angela. She doesn't remember being with Angela last night.

"Hey sweetie, how do you feel?" Angela asks.

"Like I've been hit by a truck." Brennan croaks.

"I'm not surprised." Angela replies. "After what you drank." Brennan looks confused.

"Were you out with me?" she asks as she sits up and rubs her eyes.

"No, no. You hit the bar all by yourself sweetie." Angela gets up and perches on the edge of the bed.

"How did I…?"

"Booth brought you home." Angela explains. "Then he called me to come stay with you because you were a mess."

"Oh God." The memories start coming back to Brennan. Booth had come to the bar, given her a ride home.

"That's right sweetie, oh God." She repeats. "But it was really very sweet of him." She continues. "You know going out to bars and getting drunk alone is dangerous. You're lucky it was Booth that gave you a ride home." She says.

"Yeah, I know, I know." Brennan sighs as she rolls out of bed. Angela follows her as she staggers to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face.

"Thanks for coming over." Brennan says. "It can't have been fun for you."

"You talk in your sleep. That was fun. And you can thank me with gifts." She smiles. "You should thank Booth too." She adds.

For the better part of the morning Brennan makes best friends with the toilet. Booth's miracle cure stops the nausea once she is able to actually stop throwing up long enough to drink it and keep it down. But it has little effect on the thumping headache or the shakes. After watching several bad movies in the late afternoon Brennan decides she really ought to thank Booth for taking care of her. How she would have got herself home last night otherwise she doesn't know. Going by the large memory gaps she must have been pretty trashed.

Brennan picks up the phone to call but then decides this is something she should do in person. Pulling herself off the couch she takes a shower and finds some clean clothes to wear. She settles on a pair of comfortable black cord pantsand a teal blue tank top with black wrap cardigan. Feeling slightly more human she jumps in her car and drives over to Booth's. _I hope he's in._

Booth is just putting the Chinese takeout in the oven to re-heat when he hears his doorbell. Wiping his hands on a kitchen towel, he hurries through to see who is calling by. Brennan is the last person he expects to see.

"Bones!" he exclaims with a smile.

"Hey, are you busy?" she asks. She doesn't wait for a response. "You probably are. I should go." She turns to leave but Booth grabs her arm.

"Wait." He says. She pauses and looks at him. "Come on in." he says. "I'm not busy." Brennan hesitantly steps inside.

"I didn't think you'd be in." she admits. "No hot date tonight?" she asks. Booth and Tessa broke up a while ago and she figured he'd be right back out there dating the beautiful tall blondes.

"Nope." He shakes his head. "Just me, the TV and Chinese takeout." He shrugs. "So mind if I ask what brings you round?" he asks as he heads back into the kitchen. Brennan trails after him.

"I wanted to say thanks." She says. "For last night."

"Anytime." Booth replies.

"No really. You didn't have to go to all that trouble, calling Angela and everything."

"Seemed like you needed a friend." Booth shrugs.

"You don't think you're my friend?" Brennan asks, not knowing where it came from. Booth seems a little taken aback by her question.

"Uh, I guess I never really.." Booth doesn't know how to answer. _I see myself as more than a friend_.

"I want us to be friends." Brennan says.

"Me too Bones." Booth smiles. "So how about you stick around and keep me company for a while." He suggests. "I'm about to watch a movie and I have Chinese takeout in the oven heating up." He raises his eyebrows in anticipation of her answer. Brennan contemplates the offer. _I do want us to be friends_.

"What movie?" she asks with a smile on her face. Booth smiles back knowing that this is a big step for Brennan. _Who knows what's to come_ he thinks.


End file.
